Getting started with phpBB: your first hour in the ACP

This guide assumes you’ve installed phpBB with Softaculous (see installing forum software) and can log in. Menu names are from phpBB 3.3; if a label differs slightly in your version, the setting will be nearby.

Getting around the ACP

Log in with your admin account, then use the Administration Control Panel link at the bottom of any page. phpBB asks for your password again; that’s a security feature, not a fault.

The ACP is organised into tabs across the top: General, Forums, Posting, Users and Groups, Permissions, Customise, Maintenance and System. Each tab has a menu down the left. Nearly everything in your first hour lives under General, Forums and Permissions.

1. Board settings

Under General › Board configuration › Board settings, set the site name and description, the default language and the board’s timezone and date format (UK communities usually want Europe/London). Save.

2. Registration and spam, before anything else

1. General › Board configuration › User registration settings: set Account activation to By user (email verification). If you want to approve every member personally, choose By admin.
2. On the same page, check the New member post limit. Members stay in the Newly Registered Users group, with tighter permissions, until they reach it. A value of 3–5 posts works for most boards.
3. General › Board configuration › Spambot countermeasures: enable them and choose a plugin. The Q&A plugin, with two or three questions only people interested in your subject could answer, stops the great majority of automated signups. You can also use reCAPTCHA, which needs a free key from Google.

More ideas, for all three packages: preventing forum spam.

3. Make sure email works

phpBB sends activation emails, password resets and notifications. Under General › Client communication › Email settings, make sure board-wide email is enabled and the contact and return addresses use a mailbox on your own domain. There’s a send a test email option on that page: use it. If the test lands in spam or never arrives, check SPF and DKIM for your domain in DirectAdmin (SPF, DKIM).

4. Categories and forums

In phpBB, everything is a “forum”: a category is a forum of type Category that holds others, and what other software calls a board is a forum of type Forum.

1. Go to Forums › Manage forums. Delete or rename the sample category and forum the installer created.
2. Create a category (type Category), then create three or four forums (type Forum) inside it.
3. When you create a forum, phpBB offers Copy permissions from. Pick an existing forum with the permissions you want, and phpBB sets up the new one to match. That’s the easiest way to keep permissions consistent.

Keep the structure small at first. Boards, categories and permissions explains why.

5. Permissions, the phpBB way

phpBB’s permission system is detailed, but you rarely need the detail. Use roles, which are ready-made bundles of permissions:

• Permissions › Forum based permissions › Group forum permissions lets you pick a group and a forum, then choose a role such as Standard Access, Read Only Access or No Access.
• For a members-only forum, give Guests and Bots the No Access role on it.
• For moderators, add the member to the Global Moderators group, or assign moderator roles per forum under Forum moderators.

After a change, log out and look at the board as a guest, or use a test account, to check it does what you intended.

6. Styles and extensions (later, not first)

phpBB’s default style, prosilver, is clean and works on phones, so there’s no rush to change it. When you do:

• Styles: upload the style’s folder into /styles/ with FTP or the DirectAdmin file manager, then install and activate it under Customise › Style management › Install styles.
• Extensions: upload into /ext/ keeping the folder structure the extension’s instructions give (usually ext/vendor/name/), then enable it under Customise › Manage extensions.

Only install what you need, from the official customisation database, and check version compatibility first. Extensions and themes covers doing this safely.

7. Updates and backups

phpBB tells you on the ACP front page when a new version is available. Security releases matter: apply them promptly, ideally through Softaculous (which handles the files and database update), and back up first. See keeping forum software updated and backing up your forum.

Where to learn more

• phpBB 3.3 documentation, the official user and admin guide.
• phpBB community forums for support and extension questions.
• phpBB customisation database for extensions and styles.